Improvement in skirt-protectors



1. JENKINsoN.

Skirt-Protectors.

Pmmd Nov. 18

PATENT OFFICE.

JAMns JnNKnvsoN, or BROOKLYN, n. D., NEW-vonk,

IMPROVEMENT IN SKIRT-PROTECTORS.

' .'Specication forming part of Letters Patent N o. 144,617, dated November 18, 1873; application tiled November 4, 1873.

a new and Improved Protector for the Trails of Ladies7 Dresses; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, which forms a y part o this specification.

It is customary to affix to the facing at the bo tom of a ladys dress-skirt, when it is designe i, to trail more or less, some protecting material to save the fabric of the dress as much as possible from being soiled, aud to prevent its fraying. Usually a strip of plaited wiggan, or a strip of varnished paper, or oil-silk is stitched along one edge to such facing, and allowed to extend to the bottom edge of the skirt. The wiggan is not at all durable; indeed it becomes so ragged and torn after wearing the dress a very few times as to need to be replaced with new. The varnished paper is little if any better protection, and the oil-silk, though better and more durable than the others, is much more expensive, and requires more time to apply it.

The object of my invention is to produce a durable and reliable protection, which may be stitched to the bottom or trail of a ladys skirt, and obviate all of the above objections without interfering in any respect with the set of the skirt or trail, and to such end it consists in a dress-trail protector composed of a suitable fabric or material, provided on one of its sides or surfaces with protruding guards made of-fleather, rubber, or other like durable material, and so arranged and attached that when properly applied to the dress the said guards will drag upon the ground or sidewalk, and keep the body of the fabric or material to which they are attached, Iand hence the dresstrail, elevated therefrom, whereby a novel,

. durable, and reliable trail-protector is produced, as will be hereinafter more fully eX- plained.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a vertical section taken through a long or sweeping 7 trail, showing my improved trailprotector attached thereto. Fig. 2 is a simii lar view of my protector applied to a skirtA with a shorter trail; and Fig. 3 is a similar view of my invention applied to a skirt designed to drag but very little. Fig. 4` is a plan view of a piece of my said dress-trail protector. r

A designates a strip of textile fabric, which strip may be single or double, as desired, and

preferably of some cheap goods, suchas musy lin or wiggan. Such strip A will constitute the base or body, to which the guards or protectors proper, B, are attached.

In the present instance I have shown these guards B as composed of a tube of leather having a fllling or core of any suitable-light and cheap material to give them the desired fullness.

The guards shown in the drawing run conb tinuously around the edge of the trail, as will be understood by reference to the drawing. It is not necessary, however, that they run continuously, or that they be of the construction shown, so long as they are composed of durable material, and be placed near enough together to keep the fabric or material to which they are attached elevated from the ground, so that they themselves shall constitute the wearing or rubbing surface, and thereby protect the ladys skirt. `For instance, a strip of india-rubber fabric with snitable ribs or projections on its surface would answer, or a strip of other suitable material with durable knobs, ribs, or projections secured to it would answer. Indeed the guards themselves may be attached to the facing of the skirt or trail, in which case the said facing would take the place and serve the function of dressskirt or trail said guards will be interposed between it and the ground or sidewalk, sppstartstant-iallyA as and for the purpose specied. J. JENKINSON. Witnesses:

M. M. LIVINGSTON, A. J. DE LACY. 

